>> cycles are real, will go up, done. i'm suggesting this for a very long term play. >> the way the market has been acting, commodities in particular, even during the midst of all of that turmoil, i think you guys are on to something. the next move in oil could be a big one. dave asman is next. he jif shuns are celebrating. -- egyptians are celebrating. americans be worried. our own cia director saying our national debt is creating a natial security risk. is he right. welcome to forbes on fox. here with us mr. steve forbes himself. steve, is our national debt causing us to lose all influence? >> john kennedy was right, great power does not have a

weak money. debt is symbolic of weak money. the fact of the matter is the world sees is as a declining power bus of the weak dollar and our inability to get our finances under control. that's why the chinese have contempt for us. and iran and others don't fear us. >> mark, what we would have had more influence with events in egypt if people respected us as an economic super power not a debtor nation? >> no, i don't think so david. i think it is time we look at our foreign policy which is largely geared around going into countries, putting in strong man dictators and supporting them so we can get their oil. we are 60 years behind the curve. we need to reevaluate our foreign policy. >> doesn't the fact we can't get our own books balanced make us less credible internationally?

>> yes, i think it does. steve is right, particularly with china and russia also. this is a grave weakness. we hope it can be corrected with the growing economy. i think egypt mark might be a little more right, it is a different situation. there president obama's passivity has contributed to this. although, we will see with president mubarak stepping down, president obama has a chance to convert his presidency from a jimmy carter presidency to a jfk, cuban missile crisis presidency if he brings this off. >> he does. mike, we've seen three weeks of the egyptian leadership thumbing their nose at us. is that tied in, in any way to the fact we can't get our own books in order? >> one of the things that has happened to support the 14 trillion dollars of debt, we've printed a lot of money caused the value of the dollar to fall. as far as poorer countries are

concerned the impact is higher food prices. commodity prices have soared. they have trouble feeding themselves in places like egypt and other countries where the cost of food is a large portion of their total spending. that causes anti-americanism to spread. >> we can help to be focused on egypt this week. we haven't mentioned the chinese. we have very little leverage with them. that seems to be almost directly economic. >> enormous power. they have dominant position politically. dominant position with population. now recycling their money to buy our debt. ironic, 30 years now we've spent this fortune building up this huge military that we thought made us influential and it has helped put us in enormous debt. maybe there's another side. it looks like mubarak might have moved out would enormous turmoil, protests, but not murders. better than clinton did with

milosevic, better than one did with noriega. probably better than reagan did with marcos. we have to live with dictators, they are a fact of life in the world. i think president obama played a hand well. >> we used to be lectured by third world countries. in fact, now the saudi arabians are wagging their fingers at us. it doesn't seem like merck is on a pinnacle right now >> china saying the world doesn't have -- money to keep buying our debt. that was an eye-opener when they made those statements. not just spending on the military. interest costs on the u.s. debt is going to equate spending on the military next year we've added more debt this administration, on track to do that than the 43 prior presidents combined. it is a national security issue, and the join chiefs of staff chairman has said that.

>> the best the president can come up with after raising our spending 25% is to freeze it at 25% not to cut anything. >> if you are on a bender you don't say i'm only going to drink a case a day and say i'm going on the wagon. the fed shouldn't print so many dollars. make real spending cuts. repealing obamacare and get free markets in the health care with sensible safety nets. >> rich, if we get our house in order a little better than it is now, will our influence abroad be any stronger? >> steve is right on this point. that has been missed until steve brought it up. growth. i take you back to ronald reagan. ronald reagan added 1.7 trillion dollars to the american deficit, as quentin could be happy to point out but he increased the net asset value of the united states by

17 trillion during that same time. because we had pro-growth policies. that's also what gets respect in the world. if we can get basketball to four, five percent growth, the chinese and everyone else will take us seriously. >> rich is right. this administration is invalidateing all the lessons we learned during the great depression. fdr called businessmen economic royalists, unemployment was coming down towards 6%. after that unemployment soared when the government intervened. we had a mini depression within that great depression. >> i'm glad that liz is bringing up the great depression. during that time the government did something that put people back to work and to create jobs. we had programs for jobs where the government helped stimulate the economy. that's what the government needs to be doing. [ talking over each other ]

>> finish up mark, go ahead. >> what i was going to say is the government, i think moving in the right direction rather than in the wrong direction, because the private sector is not creating jobs. [ talking over each other ] >> when the private sector is not creating jobs it is because of obstacles put in by the government. weak dollar, tax uncertainty, massive new regulations. not the environment for risk taking. [ talking over each other ] >> it look world war ii to get our economy going again. these people in these poor countries like egypt, they may be poor mark but they are not stupid. they know our huge debt. >> worldwide food prices rose 3.2% in january. the -- record high.

>> unemployment has gone up in 47 of the 50 states since stimulus was passed. >> that is the last word. the president's new plan to go green. the gang says it is a new clunker for taxpayers. >> first, fired? forget about getting hired. companies across the country refusing to hire folks who are out of work. is that discrimination? we date that, coming up. -- [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription.

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>> good morning fox news alert. i'm james i colby. new era in he . look at what is happening right now in -- right now in tahrir square. celebrations continue after the fall of hosni mubarak. the road ahead still uncertain. leland vittert streaming live with the latest. >> reporter: jamie, it has been 24 hours since president mubarak resigned. this country has been changed forever. the celebrations of course

continuing in tahrir square. the military has taken over. 2 1/2 hours ago they issued a statement they were going to honor all international treaties. important to the international community. they said the public needs to begin respecting the police once again. the police brutality issue in egypt is one thing that sparked this revolution. we'll see how people respond to that. also in tahrir square we have celebrations going on, also a massive cleanup effort. everybody we've talked to has said this revolution was not only about kicking hosni mubarak out but about the future of their country which they say is so very important. they have to prove to the world they can cleanup, get themselves back on their feet and try to bring back the tourism industry which has been shutdown. 20,000 people a day normally visit the pyramids, now it is

down to zero. the key is not only to get the economy up and going and to move to free and fair fair elections. we'll see how long that takes for a country that has never had them. >> leland thank you. i'm jamie colby i'll see you at 3 p.m. eastern today. now back to forbes on fox. the latest always at foxnews.com. >> the jobless need not apply. the same week we are learning fewer companies are hiring. the ones that are posting ads like this, to be considered you must be currently employed or must be currently employed as a manager. candidates must be currently employed. you see it everywhere. morgan, you think this is discrimination and should be outlawed? >> i think this is a terrible trend that needs to be

squelched. [ unintelligible ] we shouldn't be discriminating based on status, essentially their economic status. >> we have so many lawyers in the mix already wouldn't this inkeys that mix? -- increase that mix? >> yes, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and a job. wait there is no guarantee of a job. would you of would have to create one. this would open up a pandora's box of lawsuits when we want employers to expand their business. not to look over their shoulders that would be the worst thing. >> mark is this discrimination and should it be outlawed? >> i think it is discrimination and it may already be illegal. it is sad, representative again of our have and have not culture. let's take from the poor and give to the rich and well off. let's forget about the people that don't have something.

they are now down in the dumpster let's leave them there to rot. >> you said it may already be illegal, how so? >> because we are not supposed to discriminate people on many different areas. this may be one of those areas. sex, race, we are not supposed to show preference in particular hiring for many different areas. probably, i haven't researched this -- this isn't a talent issue. this is down on your luck. >> victoria go ahead. >> i agree it is sad and shows where we are in our unemployment rate. as an employer hiring, you have to make certain decisions of one candidate over 100 others. skills are going to come into play that's natural. [ talking over each other ] >> it is not about being poor. i don't know why you are putting that label on it. >> steve, should it be

illegal? >> no all this is an act for lawyers. the idiot who wrote those ads should be shot or fired at least. all you have to do is look at the resume to see what their situation is. this is going to lead to making resumes illegal? use common sense if you want to hire somebody, you might want somebody who is hungry rather than somebody you have to pay twice as much for. >> it may have been a poor management decision, but not illegal. >> i like my friend mark to say if he is going to hire a attorney or see a doctor is he going to somebody who has been out of practice for two or three years? no. this is what happens when you pay people to not work for two years. you get a large percentage of the workforce that have no incentive to get back in. >> we are not talking about the well fair system we are you can -- welfare system we are talking about people like you and me, people losing millions of homes this year because they can get jobs. paying for their kids'

expensive college education and supporting their elderly parents. these people want jobs. >> victoria? >> i think it is a mistake of these employers to put it in the ad and not look at a wide applicant pool. they have so many people applying, because of our high unemployment rate, this is some sort of filter. is it right, good for business? probably not. but you can't make it illegal then there will be fewer jobs created. you're putting a tax on every new new -- every new hire so it will backfire. >> this is not just bad practice for business this is bad for our entire economy. not only should businesses be keeping these people out of jobs. >> mark? >> i agree. this is a scarlet letter. we have 16 million without jobs and we are going to throw these people in the dumpster because we think they are not

good any more? >> the government is more involved now in private affairs than ever in my lifetime. do we want them more so? >> no, you don't. look, sit on a board of directors on the company side mark and morgan and see what is going on. if this came down you would only see the acceleration of offshoring and you would have board discussions on how can we use technology to take out more jobs? hiring a new person has become a regulatory nightmare. >> that's right. you are giving employers another reason not to hire in the u.s.. why would you do that right now? >> the purpose of a company isn't to raise employment in a country it is to make a profit. that should be left up to the people who own the company, not government. >> the only way you are going to do it is ban resumes. let's focus on government obstacles to job creation and this would be an academic exercise. >> teachers making out like pan did its snagging 7 1/2

million dollars from taxpayers by not working. why it could happen over and over again in your state. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi plce around the corner. well, in that case, i better get bk to these invoices... whh i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

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public school teachers getting a huge pate. only problem, they fire -- huge payday.

a big victory for teachers might be a big loss for students and taxpayers. arbitrators forcing the district of columbia to rehire teachers they fired a couple of years ago. they also get back pay that could cost up to 7 1/2 million. dennis you say it is a big blow to reforming failing schools. >> it is. unions, i believe are the

single biggest intransient obstacle to reform education. all they care about is dues and protecting jobs, instead of quality. name me within industry where unions have helped the industry thrive? autos, government, trucking, construct trade, juniors are hurting them and educating with >> specifically to education, are unions a roadblock to any meaning reform? >> health care, thriving steel industry we had. i thought unions were okay in this case unions are okay because the administration level doesn't get the cronies. these guys were fired without cause that was against rules both sides agreed on. the 7 1/2 million will only go if all get reinstated a princely sum of $50,000 a year in salary, not a problem. [ talking over each other ] >> there are so many horror stories about how it is impossible -- one teacher in new jersey using cocaine,

apparently beating students. it took them four years and $400,000 to fire him even though he was egregious because of the unions. >> these teachers were fired because of incompetence. we need anti-trust suit public education to give parents real choice. if they don't a like a school they should be able to put the kids in the schools they like and in new orleans. even though those kids come if low income families their test scores are going up because parents are in charge, not unions. >> government monopoly. give every family a voucher. give them a choice, a meaningful choice of different schools to go to and the unions -- >> you can avoid the union on vouchers they are dead set against it. >> they are against anything that would help competition that's the problem. they don't want young teachers to have an advantage.

they want the last in to be the first out. they want the old teachers who are tired and get lazy to be there for the rest of their lives that is what is costing and that's the reason we need to change the system. >> dennis? >> we believe and agree the education system is in deep trouble. probably one of the biggest problems is parents. that means we have to fix it. unfortunately, i see unions try to get if the way. why does a high school teacher need tenure? to save their jobs. >> the problem is the parents, that's one reason why parochial schools do so much better. i'm sorry the teachers, you should get bad ones out, reform the contracts. in washington, the union agreed to weed out the bad ones. these people were fired without cause. if cause had been established, it would have been fine. >> there was a lot of cause for that teacher in

new jersey. again four years and $400,000 to get rid of him. >> get the stocks ready for kbg

stocks near two year highs. upon? >> half earnings -- dupont? >> half earnings coming from the food business. >> it is kind of expense and i don't see a lot of growth. they make equipment to find oil ands go with the economy coming back that is going to be good. >> not a lot, -- [ unintelligible ] >> big growth company. they make urinary catheters. >> medicare cutting down on equipment reimbursement prices. >> going for toyota.